A journalist works in front of the Stock Exchange's main display while it shows Bankia values, in Madrid Monday June 11, 2012. After Spain's request for a European financial lifeline of up to a euro100 billion euros ($125 billion) to save its banks the EU made clear the money is more than just a loan. Besides being paid back with interest, there will be strings attached for the Spanish government.(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
June 12, 2012 - 11:16 AM
MADRID - Spain's benchmark borrowing rate has risen to its highest since the country joined the euro currency after Fitch credit ratings agency downgraded 18 domestic banks
Spain's 10-year bond yield traded at 6.78 per cent on Tuesday, according to data provider FactSet.
Spain agreed last weekend to take a European bailout for its banks, but investors are worried it will not solve the country's problem as the government may have trouble paying the money back.
Fitch says in a statement that its downgrade of the banks was a result of a previous downgraded of the Spanish sovereign debt on June 7. Fitch says it had conducted stress tests, both on the Spanish banking sector as a whole and on individual banks, updating results from tests done in 2011.
News from © The Associated Press, 2012